


Senses

by Hestia



Series: Witcher headcanons and shorts [8]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Baby Witchers, Eskel is soft for Geralt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sensory Overload, might contain traces of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24575944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hestia/pseuds/Hestia
Summary: Geralt's senses get overwhelmed after the additional trials but Eskel is there to comfort him.Part of a series but completely independent as usual.
Relationships: Eskel/Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia
Series: Witcher headcanons and shorts [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769020
Comments: 15
Kudos: 124





	Senses

**Author's Note:**

> I have this headcanon that sometimes the Witchers get really overwhelmed by everything around them since all their senses are so acute.
> 
> And I also wrote a line in the previous piece in this series about Eskel helping Geralt thought his trials and I wanted to write something around it. But you can read this and not read Fear without missing anything. Also yeah look at me finally writing proper hurt/comfort instead of just angst!

The smell of sweat, acrid and burning cold on his flesh. The dazzling rush of blood in his hands, his chest, his veins. The beat beat beat beat of his own heart deafening in his ears. The air tearing at his lungs with each breath. Darkness too bright in his throbbing eyes. It’s so much, so much, all at once.

He gasps and curls around himself, needing the world to be small and quiet again.

The door open quietly, grating louder than his own bones shifting under his skin.

“Geralt?” He winces at the voice, covering his ears and whimpering very quietly.

Sounds of light steps moving across the dirt, soft but heavy. The burning heat of another body, settling next to him, almost touching but not quite. The coarse fabric of the tunics they all wear shifting and shrieking in his ears. Everything hurts, everything is raw. He scratches at his own skin, fingernail already turning red.

A hand tenderly settles on his and tucks it away gently.

“Don’t do that please”, the voice murmurs.

“It hurts so bad Eskel, everything’s too much”, Geralt gasps and snatches his hand away trying to make himself even smaller but his skin burns every time he moves.

Eskel waits a moment. His senses are quick to adjust to the darkness of the basement where they are sitting in a corner. But he still needs a minute to see well enough from the sliver of light coming from under the door. He turns his body to shield Geralt’s oversensitive eyes from the light. The smell of the dirt is strong and unpleasant, the air feels wet and heavy. He can’t imagine how it must smell to Geralt with his enhanced faculties.

Looking at the small form in front of him, Eskel gets lost in thoughts. This would be the third time they’ve put Geralt under experimental trials. The first two hadn’t been as terrible as the last. Geralt had screamed and kicked and begged for it to stop but when Vesemir had led Eskel to his bed, he had quickly calmed down under his touch. The mages had protested, not wanting him to bear witness to what was happening in the darkness of the trial room, but Vesemir had left them with little choices. Eskel’s voice had been a reassuring presence throughout each of the trials after that first night. Few other boys had been chosen and none had survived past the first few additional mutations. Each trial had been a mountain to climb. Eskel would be led out of the room on the last morning every time when Geralt was finally completely conscious and not delirious with the pain anymore.

He knew the mages and trainers wanted to inspect his brother as closely as they could before letting him loose among the others again and they didn’t need Eskel for that. His task was done. He had overheard and pieced together enough conversations while smoothing Geralt to know his own future at Kaer Morhen depended on Geralt’s ability to survive the trials well. Somehow Vesemir had managed to convince Rennes that Eskel was indispensable to ensure the success of the experiments. His point had been made when the other boys had died screaming alone and Geralt had quietly survived after Eskel had climbed in the bed with him without a pause and held him tight all night long. He had smoothed the skin around his wrist when Geralt had pulled at his restraints so hard they had started to bleed and let his voice become a soft blanket for Geralt to hide under from the pain. His hair had turned white from the traumatic experience but he had survived and it was all that mattered.

If it wasn’t for the older Witcher, one of them would have been sent away already, probably to the Griffin school. That was what happened to trainees who got too close to each other. They got separated and sent to train under new Masters. Most of them didn’t make it to the trial of the Mountain, belonging to both schools and neither of them at the same time. Not all the mutations were compatible. Eskel wasn’t a fool, the Wolves would never let go of Geralt. But neither would he.

Vesemir had come to him this morning, worry plain on his face. Eskel had been dismissed after two very intense nights and days. Geralt had screamed and clung to him more than usual and had to be pried away from his arms that last morning, exhausted but still so strong. Eskel had thrown a last worried glance towards him before the door had been shut on his face. Geralt smelled more strongly like pain and exhaustion that the other times. It left a bitter taste at the back of Eskel’s throat he had come to hate.

Barely a quarter of an hour had passed before the older Witcher had found Eskel and explained that Geralt had run away from the trial room before the mages could examine him fully. There was no doubt he had run to the deepest basement, no one could hide from a proper Witcher, but nobody had wanted to force him to come out. One of the mages had explained the last trial had been designed to enhance all of Geralt’s senses specifically and he was probably just extremely overwhelmed. Eskel remembered how it had felt to open his eyes for the first time and seen colours he didn’t even know existed. How everything had been too bright before he’d learned to contract his pupils. How each of his senses had been assaulted the first few weeks following the trials. Why would the mages need to make it even worse? What purpose would it serve to push Geralt beyond every limit when everything was already so overwhelming for each of them? Maybe there was no purpose he thought. Maybe they just wanted to know how far they could push him before he died. Eskel was led to the right corridor and could smell Geralt’s fear even from three doors down. But if they were to allow them to stay together, Eskel had to do his part. He didn’t mind. He would never mind smoothing Geralt’s worries away.

Geralt lets out another tiny whimper that focuses back all of Eskel’s senses at once.

“I know you’re hurting Geralt, I’m here to help”, he answers as quietly as possible, running his fingers lightly through the white hairs in front of him. Geralt’s gives a full-body shiver at the soft touch. He’s curled into a ball and lets himself fall to his side on the cold floor, too exhausted to keep himself up any longer. Eskel takes his hand away, it’s clearly too much.

“I know you’re overwhelmed right now but I’m going to need you to focus with me?”

“I can’t”, Geralt answers, face buried in his knees, rocking himself a little.

“Of course you can.”

“It hurts, everything hurts.”

“I know, I know”, Eskel answers, lowering his voice even further. “You remember the teachings?”

Geralt shakes his head a little.

“Come on, I know you do. You’re overwhelmed when you try to focus on everything at once. You always want to run first but I need you to slow down for now. For me.”

“I don’t know how. Everything is so loud. I can hear my blood run in my veins.”

Eskel winces at that. If he concentrates he can faintly hear breakfast being prepared two floors up, someone is cleaning vials above them and some people are already training outside. He used to hear all of that constantly but they’ve learned to tune things out instinctively when they aren’t important. Their minds trained to warn them if they pick up on anything dangerous.

Right now, everything is at the same level for Geralt and he can hear much more than Eskel can.

“We’ll do it together. Just one sense after the other. We don’t need to rush.”

Geralt doesn’t answer but unfolds from himself just a tiny bit. His eyes are closed tight, his breath almost panicked.

“It’s just you and me and nothing else alright?”

“Al… alright.”

“Good.”

Sound seems to be the easiest to deal with right now. it’s probably one of Geralt’s most overloaded sense right now, but it’s something Eskel has started to work on as soon as he entered the room.

“Alright Geralt, I need you to focus on me right now. Nothing else okay. Can you do that?”

“I… I don’t know."

“First I’m going to need you to sit up for me.”

Geralt’s shiver at the thought of being exposed so much and shakes his head no.

“That’s okay.” Eskel quickly rethinks his plan. “We’ll go slowly. Can you focus on my voice? You don’t need to move. Just listen.”

Geralt doesn’t answer but Eskel doesn’t need him to. He lowered himself to the floor instead, face right next to Geralt’s own. “Focus on my heart Geralt.”

They are quiet for a few minutes. Eskel makes sure he’s relaxed so his heart will beat at a steady, calming rhythm for Geralt, who’s breathing is erratic and loud in the small quiet room. Eskel can see Geralt’s eyes move under his eyelids, seeking the source of a noise that caught his attention, incapable of focusing more than a few seconds. That won’t do.

After a couple of minutes, Eskel starts to hum a song, extremely quietly. Geralt’s breath stills for a second or two, surprised. Eskel can sense Geralt's entire body suddenly focused solely on him. It’s not a song Eskel sings often but he always enjoyed it. He hums it twice over before Geralt relaxes a fraction and unfurls a little bit more.

“May I touch you?”

Geralt nods, still not opening his eyes but clearly more concentrated now.

“Alright. I’m going to start with your hair”, Eskel warns before running his fingers very lightly on top of Geralt’s hair, barely even really touching them. At first, the simple touch sounds like sandpaper to Geralt’s ear making him wince a little.

“Focus on the sound and make it quieter”, Eskel reminds him. When Geralt finally settles, tuning down the sound, Eskel works his fingers in the white locks and pets them, being very careful to not pull at all when he feels some resistance. Geralt has been tossing and turning all night, his hair is a mess. He lets his finger run all the way to the base of Geralt’s neck and that earns him another full-body shiver, but Geralt relaxes a bit this time. Next, very carefully, Eskel rubs his thumb right above Geralt’s ear where his skin is most sensitive, his palm resting on the hair without moving much. He’s just making very small reassuring circles. 

“Alright there?”

Geralt makes a tiny content sound. His breathing has improved greatly.

“Okay, I’m going to touch your face now.”

Eskel’s palm moves from his hair to Geralt’s cheek carefully, his thumb stroking right under Geralt’s eye, at the top of his cheekbone. It feels excruciatingly hot and Geralt frowns his eyebrows, needing to concentrate fully to make the feeling bearable again. Eskel looks, fascinated to see Geralt relax under his touch bit by bit and finally press his cheek a little against his palm. He would like to do this forever but it’s not the goal here.

“You’re doing so well for me Geralt. I’m going to move to your side now.”

“Okay”, Geralt answers quietly, please to hear the praise from Eskel. He misses a breath when Eskel’s warm hand presses against the top of his hip, where the tunic wasn’t covering all of his skin.

“Stay focused on my heartbeat.” He warns gently. After Geralt relaxes again, he starts stroking up from the hip all the way to his ribs in a long, feather-light caress then back down again. Geralt’s skin is on fire, like all his nerves are raw and exposed. But after a minute or two, the touches become familiar and comforting. Eskel moves his hand up and down, up and down and up again, more and more insistent but never forceful.

“Tell me how it feels.”

“Hot. Tingling. Raw… like… like I can feel you still touching my hair and my face and my side all at the same time.”

“Does it hurt?”

“A little, at first. Now it’s okay.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“N… no. But could you… would you sing to me again?” Geralt asks, embarrassed. His breathing is ragged under Eskel's touch but no longer frantic.

“Of course”, Eskel answers softly, giving Geralt a little indulgent smile and starts humming again. 

Geralt has let go of his knees and Eskel moves a little closer. Close enough that Geralt can press his face to the hollow of his shoulder and inhale deeply if he wants. Geralt takes the bait, instinctively.

“What do you smell?”

“Dirt? Wet dirt.”

“Focus just on me Geralt, not the room around us,” Eskel answers, not stopping his strokes. Geralt inhales again.

“Soap. But not fresh? From a few days ago. And… and wool. Sweat. But not bad. Just you. Good.”

Eskel chuckles.

“Shut up”, Geralt growls a little. He lets his head fall back on the floor, body and mind almost completely relaxed now. Eskel uses the opportunity to push him on his back, his hand still on Geralt’s side. Geralt goes willingly, feeling Eskel’s body shift a bit to move slightly above him. Eskel is not straddling him, not wanting to undo all his hard work so he pushes all his weight on one side, using his right forearm to lift himself up.

“Open your eyes”, he murmurs and Geralt does without hesitation. “What do you see?”

“Warm Honey”, Geralt barely answers, breathless. His own hand coming up to stoke Eskel’s face this time. Eskel’s smile sweetly. Geralt had the same reaction the first time he saw his new amber eyes. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from Eskel then either.

“Kiss me”, he whispers.

“Are you sure?” Eskel answers with a frown. He doesn’t want to overwhelm Geralt again. 

Geralt, always impatient, surges up and kisses Eskel, pushing him up, his left hand coming to grab the back of his neck. Eskel’s hand grips his hip a little more where it was gentle before and his arm, free now that he doesn't have to take all his weight anymore, comes behind Geralt to support him in a sitting position. It’s a little bit awkward but it works. Geralt is forceful at first but calms down after a minute and allows Eskel to kiss him a little more tenderly. It’s the way he prefers kissing Geralt when they are both exhausted after the trial and Eskel has managed to whisk him away in the darkest corner of the dormitory. The other boy pretends they can’t hear them kiss quietly for hours, Eskel’s hands seeking every possible millimetre of Geralt’s body to make sure he’s still whole. Geralt’s body changes quickly after each trial and Eskel always has new things to discover and catalogue.

Geralt breaks the kiss first but doesn’t go far. They push their forehead together, noses touching and breathing quietly for a few seconds, eyes closing again, just appreciating being in each other's space.

“Thank you. For being here for me” Geralt murmurs, his hand stroking the back of Eskel’s neck gently.

“Always”, Eskel answers back in a quiet exhale.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and thank you to everybody who has been leaving kuddos and commenting on other work of this series I really appreciate it!!  
> If you enjoyed it the previous story in this series "Fear" is a companion piece to this one


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